Jamietravelstheworld

Azamara. I'm doing b2b, Cape Town to Cape Town, and Cape Town to Lisbon, in late February and March 2023. You can do a safari to Kruger and elsewhere before either of the Cape Towns embarkations.

Will be on the Azamara Journey in March with a full day in Madeira (8a-5p). It seems there is so much to do. I tend to stay with cruise ship excursions to ensure I'm back on time but not of the ship excursions cover everything I want to do. Any suggestions for tours?

For the July 7th Navigator cruise starting in London the Helsinki excursions are available, they came available the afternoon of March 29th. My travel agent called Regent who said the delay was with their provider on the ground in Helsinki and that the cruise was not going to be cancelled.

We will be overnighting in Helsinki in July (instead of St. Petersburg). Looking for suggestions of evening activities or restaurants. Not finding much through online searches. Concert halls have no performances. 

Jamie

Hi all. In Feb. 2023 I will be doing a cruise that starts in Cape Town. I'd like to do a multi-day safari pre-cruise that is not sponsored by the cruise company. I've been to Kruger before so not Kruger. Traveling solo so trying to avoid having to pay double but willing to pay a reasonable single supplement. Prefer something near Cape Town but as most flights from U.S. go through Johannesburg, could be near Johannesburg too. Suggestions? 

7 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

We used SECRET PARADISE company.  Ruth was our contact person.  They had several options.   We tendered into port.  A few yards away were all the tour people. Also free lancers and people were booking on the spot.  Very chaotic but we found our guides...we were 6 people from cruise critic.  Afterwards we had some time and walked back out to the main street, made a right and walked along that street till we came to a beautiful Muslim mosque

Thank you.

Will have one day in Male, Maldives. Tons of beach and snorkeling excursions. If you've been to one of the beach resorts or snorkeling trips, I'd love to hear what you thought. The options include:

• Hulhumale Island snorkeling
• Centara Ras Fushi adults only resort
• Adaaran Vadoo resort
• island of Dhonveli

Thanks.

Jamie

Excursion booking starts next week for my Northern Europe cruise in 2022. I'm not sure what excursions to do in several ports.

1. We dock in St. Malo, France. If you've been, do you recommend tour of St. Malo or tour of Mont St. Michel?

2. Belgium: Options include Bruges and Brussels. Bruges seems most interesting to me but there's no guided tour, they just drop you for the day. So should I do Bruges or Brussels?

3. Rotterdam - is Rotterdam an interesting city? I was in Amsterdam in 1981 but haven't been since so was thinking of going somewhere different. There's also an interesting sounding tour for the Windmills in Kinderdijk. Thoughts?

Thanks.

Excursion booking starts next week for my Northern Europe cruise in 2022. I'm not sure what excursion to do when we dock in St. Malo, France. If you've been, do you recommend tour of St. Malo or tour of Mont St. Michel?

Thanks.

32 minutes ago, AryMay said:

 

Not sure what your interests are, but I can tell you what we did at the ports we visited in 2019 with Holland America. Most of our tours were booked independently.

 

Puerto Montt - This was to have been our first port, but it was skipped due to it being too windy to operate the tenders. 

 

Puerto Chacabuco - Took a ship sponsored tour to the city of Coyhaique. This was a bit of a let-down because we were there on a Sunday and little was open. The tour also included a lunch and a brief stop at the Rio Simpson National Reserve. Probably our least favorite tour of the whole cruise.

 

Punta Arenas - We did a tour to Magdalena Island with Solo Expediciones to see the penguins. Seeing the huge penguin colony on the island was amazing, but I was not happy with the tour group. They overpacked the boat to the point that it was very uncomfortable. My husband did not even have a seat for the long and rough boat ride. I would recommend going, but with a different provider.

 

Ushuaia - We did a private tour with Federico from Anan Tourismo.  We had actually booked the tour with a different provider, but when he had car trouble he arranged for Federico to fill in. This was one of the BEST excursions we did!!! It was wonderful having the private tour instead of being with a huge group. Besides the usual tourist stops, Federico took us to some incredible out-of-the-way places. 

 

I have detailed posts from each of these ports on my blog: My Souvenir Memories. The posts also have links to YouTube videos that I've made. 

 

Good luck on your planning. Hopefully by next year the cruises will be up and running again!

 

 

Thanks so much. I’m booked on excursions now, sticking with ship sponsored ones because it’s likely that this will be a requirement post-COVID. 

I just booked Regent Seven Seas Santiago to Buenos Aires for January 2022. Shore excursions open on Sunday and I'm wondering what your must-dos are in some of the ports:

Thanks,

Jamie

Did Galapagos with Lindblad/NG with my son over the holidays about 10 years ago. Trip was absolutely AMAZING, highly recommend. 
 

Jamie

I'm currently on Regent Seven Seas Voyager which has substituted Manila for Hong Kong for debarkation on March 1st. I am looking to hire a driver/guide to pick me up at cruise terminal (with luggage), give me a full day Manila tour, and then drop me at hotel. Does anyone have recommendations for this? Thanks.

Have you tried googling shore excursions Gisborne? There are lots of other sites besides Viator such as Get Your Guide, and there are often local companies as well. 

7 hours ago, BoopTennis said:

We will be in Sydney for a few days in February. We would like to take the ferry from CQ to Manly but have a few questions 

Is it reasonable to try to do this starting mid afternoon? Will we have enough time?

When is the last ferry returning from Manly back to CQ? I looked at the online ferry timetable but not sure if it ends around 4 pm or there is a timetable section titled “day restrictions”.  I don’t know what that means

Our hotel is Amora Hotel Jamison in Southbank. What is best way to get to/from the wharf?

 

Thank you for any advice 

I stayed at the Amora 2 years ago and didn't like the location. It was far to get anywhere (by foot). If you can get either closer to Circular Quay or to Darling Harbour, I would recommend there to stay.

I'll be in Singapore for one day in February and want to see as much as I can in 8 hours. I will have a private guide. A few questions for those who have been to Singapore.

1. If arriving by ship (not disembarking, it's a port stop), how much time do I need to allow for immigration/getting off the ship?

2. The guide is suggesting the SkyPark. Is it worth the time? 

3. The guide is also recommending the Gardens by the Bay which I definitely want to go to, along with the 2 conservatories there. Are the conservatories worth the time? Will I see flowers that I won't see in the gardens?

Any must-sees that you have? The itinerary he put together includes Civic District, Merlion Park, Jubilee Bridge, Esplanade Theatres, Floating Platform, Helix Bridge, Marina Bay Sands, Garden by the Bay, and Chinatown. 

Thanks for any feedback.

Jamie

Leaving in a few days for a cruise on the Voyager and have a few questions. I'm in a Concierge Level Category E cabin.

1. Is there a clothesline in the bathroom? 

2. Is the minibar in the cabin large enough that you can put some snacks in it?

3. Does the fitness center have foam rollers and a scale?

4. And if you've used the personal trainers in the fitness center, how were they and do you recall the cost?

Thanks,

Jamie

Found this great resource on how the bushfires are impacting visitors/tourism: https://www.australia.com/en-us/travel-alerts.html

Jamie

Found this great resource on how the bushfires are impacting visitors/tourism: https://www.australia.com/en-us/travel-alerts.html

Jamie

On 1/3/2020 at 4:48 PM, No username said:

Are cruise lines altering their routes, ports, or excursions due to the Australian fires?

 

Over the last couple days stops at Kangaroo Island and Eden have been cancelled. However, things can change quickly, and by the time I'm in Australia (arrive Jan. 29) things could be totally different. I understand that about half of Kangaroo Island has been wiped out - it's just tragic. 

Jamie

On 1/4/2020 at 1:02 PM, PSU said:

We will be getting in at 6 a.m. at the Auckland, New Zealand airport and will be transported to our pre-cruise hotel by Regent. We are doing the three-night pre-cruise excursion package. Check in is not until 3 p.m. Have any of you ever booked a room for the night before so you would not have to wait until 3 p.m. to check in. We are traveling from Philadelphia and even though it is business class, I am sure we will be exhausted.

Thanks.

Are you arriving Auckland on Jan 18th? I arrive at 5:30am. I didn't book a room, figured I'd do the Hop on Hop Off bus, but I'm curious how much the hotel is charging for your early check-in. Also, in case you're not the roll call for this cruise, a bunch of us are planning to meet in the Lobby Lounge of the Cordis at 5:00 for a drink.

Jamie

3 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

 

White bay is a bit of a no mans land ,as there’s not many service.

As said there’s a private ferry to kings wharf which is darling harbour,another tourist area.

 From darling harbour ( kings wharf area),Sydney ferries run around the harbour.

The ship may have a shuttle.

Also there’s Uber,taxi.

 

I was looking at the ferry website and it looks like the Ocean Terminal is pretty close to the Balmain East stop on the F3 line. Is that the case and if so, can I catch a taxi or Uber to the stop? Thanks.

Jamie

I will be on Regent Seven Seas Voyager that will be visiting Sydney at the end of January. We will be docked at White Bay Cruise Terminal. Does anyone know if there's a ferry that stops there? If not, other than taxi/Uber, what is the easiest way to get to get to the Circular Quay Ferry Terminal? Thanks.

Jamie

I just read this article about the fires: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/australian-bushfires-everything-we-know-and-how-you-can-help/?fbclid=IwAR0HGkuQBWFO4FEIqKAjgb8ICD_6oqnvD8-kY5vAU0WvXMgDShR2gkewJXM.

As tourists, we are guests in Australia. Please be respectful of any changes to our cruise/excursions that might be impacted by the fires. An amazing country is struggling right now and we should do whatever we can to help them.

Jamie

Thanks all. The fires are just so devastating. The places I'm visiting are Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, and Darwin. I'm also doing an overland tour to the Outback - which would be incredibly hot anyways in February.

Jamie